Story:
The new series follows three generations of the Asuno family involved in the 100 Year War told from three perspectives. An unknown enemy (UE) is attacking the earth and the family uses the AGE-1 Gundam throughout the war to defend earth. Friedo Asuno (green haired kid in the trio) develops the Gundam AGE-1 Mobile Suit with the AGE System, a learning computer. Following Friedo is Asemu Asuno (blond haired kid in the trio), his son, Asemu pilots the power ready AGE-1 Gundam Titan (big red thing). Finally, Kio Asuno (brown haired kid in the trio), Friedo's grandchild, pilots the AGE-1 Gundam Sparrow (blue one) for speed.

The name of the battleship is the Diva, commander Guru Deck is its captain, followed by Lieutenant Miles. Other characters include Emily, Friedo's childhood friend.

http://i.imgur.com/oxNQB.jpg

The series will be produced in a partnership with Level-5, a pretty massive multimedia corporation in Japan behind things like Danball Senki and Inzuma Eleven and its sequel Inazuma Eleven GO!, basically some of the most popular children's anime out in Japan at the moment.

I love these designs so much. Maybe it's because I love brightly colored toyetic anime, but this just appeals to me so damn much. I can't say I wasn't this excited for 00 initially, but this is for a totally different reason. Here I'm wondering just what the future holds for Gundam. Will this be a new thing or are they just trying to capture a new generation of fans? Either way, I am in love with this show already. AGE-1 in Sparrow mode looks incredible and I definitely look forward to seeing it in action.

The story is...well it's different, I've only seen one show try this sort of approach before (Kamen Rider Kiva) and it worked out there nicely enough. I've got to wonder if it'll be told by intersplicing all three parts or one story directly after the other. Either way, I am pretty darn excited for this!

I'm interested in seeing if the story will lean more towards children than Gundam typically does or if it'll contain the same tone as a traditional series using those designs. What's more interesting is that, depending on its success, it could totally start a new trend beyond just Gundam.

The animation style also reminds me of Dendoh for some reason.

General reaction around the internet so far seems to be "wtf is this and what has it done to my Gundam?".

Akihiro Hino is the chief writer on the series, his credits include the previously mentioned Level-5 anime series as well as the Professor Layton movie.

JP

June 9th, 2011, 09:22 AM

Awesooooooooooooome! I've been waiting for a new Gundam series. Looking forward to it. Though I must say, from what I'm seeing from those shots, I'm not sure I'm really liking the Gundam designs. Maybe clearer screenshots will help. I'm honestly unsure how I'll react to the approach for the storytelling, hopefully it's done right. I can easily see them trying this out and failing, making the story too confusing and chaotic.

thedestinedblade

June 9th, 2011, 10:20 AM

I've been seeing people say that the designs are too "kiddy" for Gundam, which I agree with to a certain extent. Main kid looks even younger than Uso, lol. Are they going away from the serious storytelling to a more lighthearted approach? Either way, I'll definitely give it a shot. Wasn't a fan of 00, so I won't be expecting too much.

Kenshin5

June 9th, 2011, 10:44 AM

When I saw this the first thing that came to my mind was "dang these kids look young for pilots". If they want an kiddy approach they could just make more SD Gundam, but this really couldn't be any worst then Seed(which was personally my least favorite series).

JP

June 9th, 2011, 11:52 AM

When I saw this the first thing that came to my mind was "dang these kids look young for pilots". If they want an kiddy approach they could just make more SD Gundam, but this really couldn't be any worst then Seed(which was personally my least favorite series).

SEED was a bit of a slowpoke, but it was a fun series, if at times nonsensical. Destiny was...pretty damn terrible after 12 episodes or so. 00 lots me a few episodes into the second season, but I've gone back and (slowly) watched it all.

This series seems...well, I've seen some of the shows the head writer has done in the past and it's certainly nothing groundbreaking. That said, if it's anything like his past shows, it should be a fun ride with a story that takes itself seriously, even if aimed at a younger crowd...well, no, wouldn't want to say that. Gundam has always been aimed at kids, but I guess this would be the first time in ages that panders to them by doing more than just giving them shiny toys and leaving the character and plot stuff for the older viewers.

Kenshin5

June 9th, 2011, 02:29 PM

Aaah, Seed wasn't that bad... come on! I loved Seed/Destiny, it completely reignited my interest in Gundam.
It's not that I hate it, I just think Kira is broken. He takes of four gundams with the help of Mu La Flaga mobile armor. I just can't see the Strike handling the Aegis, Duel, Buster, and Blitz(which was destroyed by Kira). The writers seemed to make Kira have some sort of God Mode so to speak, and then there was one of the most annoying Gundam characters of all time Flay. So comparing this to Mobile Suit, Zeta, ZZ, Victory, Wing, G Gundam, 00, After War X I would prefer all those to Seed/Destiny. Maybe even Turn A when I get around to watching it.

As for this series I guess we won't be expecting in kill bots since this is supposed to more more child oriented. Maybe something like G Gundam(which I don't remember any brutal murders of civilians in this one).

The 100 Mega Shock

June 9th, 2011, 03:00 PM

That isn't particularly incongruous with every other Gundam protagonists. The only real writing issues come in during the midpoint of Destiny with his inexplicable survival and subsequently changing the focus of the show to his side.

Anyway, this isn't going to be replacing any more traditional Gundam series in any way.

Sunrise is still producing a further two episodes of Unicorn and they're likely to continue writing new things to shoehorn into the early-mid UC timeline in order to sell Gunpla to people over and over again.

Ryoutarou

June 9th, 2011, 03:17 PM

Anyway, this isn't going to be replacing any more traditional Gundam series in any way.
I would say this is a claim people shouldn't be so quick to make. This is obviously Gundam trying to captivate a new generation of fans, but if it does well enough, perhaps not to the insane success of Inazuma Eleven, but better than the last few shows, I imagine we might see more shows like this. It's no different than the way that G Gundam found success with the five Gundam and pilot approach that carried on into Wing and X. Sunrise is owned by Bandai, so if this is successful enough, we might see it for some time. We might even see the beginning of back to back series again.

Yeah, we will continue to see OVAs for UC (even if Unicorn was the first one people really cared about after the overlooked Igloo stuff), but I can foresee a future in a few years where this could potentially be the main look of Gundam for a while. It almost feels like the Gunpla Builders OVA was a testing ground for a full length series in that style and this is what became of it.

Of course it could also bomb on levels not seen since Gundam X, but they're really rolling out a very large marketing campaign for this and it's definitely going to generate more buzz for the brand than another typical series would.

WriteThemWrong

June 9th, 2011, 09:15 PM

So this is the new gundam series? The artwork, of that image at least, looks very Wing-y to me, and I was a big of gundam Wing. I thought they were going to continue with the 00 series?

It also looks like a step away from the darker melancholic characters of the past few series. I'm interested to see what they do with it.

parallelzero

June 9th, 2011, 11:48 PM

This just makes me face palm. Gundam's older fans are getting... older, so I can see why they'd want to appeal to the younger generation as well, but... This will probably be the first Gundam series I won't be able to invest any interest in outside of G Gundam.

The 100 Mega Shock

June 10th, 2011, 05:08 AM

Then it's a crying shame you don't like the best Gundam show.

We don't need more of the same shows like 00S2 - plagued by a decision to turn it into biggest rehash of MSG and Zeta plot devices possible for a Gundam show.

As it stands, Gundam AGE is a perfect set up for long-running seasons, but that doesn't mean they're going to replace the iconic "earth/space war with robots" thing when as we speak UC Gundam, Wing and G Gundam entries are still being released (Several manga, novels and an OVA). The UC fanbase is just at the age where they eat up Super Moon Zeon's Third Hidden Rebellion With Char's Johnny Ridden's third cousin's Brain In A Jar in a slightly different way.

At the end of the day it's all about colourful robots shooting each other while something melodramatic goes on in the background to cover up the sound of the gunpla moulding machines.

parallelzero

June 10th, 2011, 09:35 AM

Then it's a crying shame you don't like the best Gundam show.

That's your opinion I suppose.

We don't need more of the same shows like 00S2 - plagued by a decision to turn it into biggest rehash of MSG and Zeta plot devices possible for a Gundam show.

Plagued by it? I don't think 00S2 suffered that much difficulty for what it did with rehashing. The whole point of 00 was to appeal to a new crowd while drawing in the older fans. It may have rehashed some things, but it wasn't like you were watching MSG or Zeta Gundam. It instilled a sense of familiarity while introducing new ideas. And honestly, the Gundam franchise has been around for so long now that you can probably expect stuff like that to show up in all upcoming series as well.

I want to see some footage of AGE before I make a final judgment, but the character designs alone are probably enough to turn me off. It looks like they belong in Beyblade or something, which does not bode well imo.

Jordan

June 11th, 2011, 06:22 PM

I was preparing myself for disappointment when I heard the news of a new Gundam series and saw the silhouette of the new mech design, but it still hurt so badly when I saw the character designs and the actual mech's. As much as I'd love another AU Gundam, the franchise has never done well with exceedingly young characters as the main pilots, even moreso if the show itself is geared towards young children. That said, the idea of 3 generations of pilots does manage to pique my interest though, so I won't rule out a watch of this yet. If the show's story turns out to be a little more friendly to older audiences and the animation is something remotely close to Unicorn's, I'll consider watching this.

~Ryukaa

June 12th, 2011, 12:58 AM

I've never seen any Gundam, but hearing that it's being co-developed by Level-5 is enough to make me watch it. xDD;;
Not to mention it sounds better than "Gundam Unicorn", or whatever. o3o

Ryoutarou

June 12th, 2011, 09:10 PM

http://www.gundam-age.net/ - Website went live and here is a more detailed story:

Takes place in the AG (Advance Generation) timeline, airs October on MBS.

Story -

AG 101 -
The UE appears and begins to destroy the Angel space coloney. The people of earth live under constant threats of attack and suffer in fear of the UE.

AGE 108 -
The war against the UE rages on. Ovan is the latest coloney to be attacked by the strange enemy force. Frit Asuno has lived on Ovan for seven years and lost his mother in the early UE attacks. His mother passed down blueprints for the AGE system. (not sure) Frit finds an ancient(?!) mobile suit known as a Gundam, called a messiah.

AGE 115 -
Frit is now 14 years old and lives on the Nora space coloney and spends most of his time at the coloney's make shift military base. In the last seven years he continued to enhance the designs left behind by his mother and finally completes the legendary AGE self evolution system. Now, at just 14 years old, Frit is thrust into the UE war. Will he be able to overcome his enemies?

Chairman Kaga

June 13th, 2011, 07:56 PM

I just found out about this. Saw the images. Watched the trailer. I waited years after the horribad second season of 00 for a new Gundam series. Something that could evolve the series, be a glorious budget-obliterating ode to mecha, or just make me feel the way I felt about SEED when I was a teenager. And we get.......this. All I have to say is: